John B Hedges

Water Dance (VoxCrocodilia) (1999)

for amplified contrabass & tape

Duration: 7'50''

Water Dance (Vox Crocodilia) is inspired by the courtship bellowing of crocodiles and their hypnotic ritual movement called the water dance. After watching a mesmerizing documentary on the subject I decided to render approximations of the sound using by recording sounds on a contrabass and digitally manipulating them into a quasi orchestral accompaniment for the soloist. I am grateful for the mentorship of composer Paul Rudy, without whom this work would never have been completed. The work is dedicated to and was written for bassist Ju-Fang Liu who premiered the piece in Harris Concert Hall at the 1999 Aspen Music Festival.